In 1914, Ernest Shackleton and his 27-member crew left England in a wooden sailing ship called the Endurance. Shackleton hoped to become the first to cross Antarctica. But in 1915, the Endurance became trapped in the thick ice over the Weddell Sea. The ice crushed the Endurance and later sank it. Shackleton and all of his men lived, but the tale of their long and difficult return is one of the most famous survival stories of all time.
Much was known about the location of the Endurance. The ship’s captain kept accurate records of the ship’s position. The ship’s photographer even took pictures of it as it went down. But the ship, deep in the icy waters near Antarctica, had never been found. On Wednesday, a search team called “Endurance22” announced that it had located the ship. The Endurance was found 1.87 miles below the ocean’s surface, about four miles south of its last known position.
The Endurance22 team reports that the ship is in excellent shape. The name can be clearly read on the back of the ship. Its wheel looks ready to be turned. “This is by far the finest wooden shipwreck(沉船) I have ever seen,” said Mensun Bound, who was in charge of the exploration. Even though the ship is made of wood and is over 100 years old, it has survived with little damage. Scientists say that the small organisms(微生物) that normally break down wooden objects underwater don’t live in the cold waters around Antarctica.
The Endurance22 effort is led by the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust. The team ran the project from an ice-breaking ship able to handle the difficult conditions of the Weddell Sea. To locate the Endurance, the team used two underwater robots called Sabertooths. These robots can travel by themselves deep under the sea, as far as 100 miles away from the base ship.
For the last two weeks the Sabertooth robots have been scanning the sea floor in a 150-square mile area around the Endurance’s last known location. The Sabertooths were especially useful, since they could travel under the ice and go where the ship could not. The robots were looking for anything sticking up above the sea floor. Last Saturday, the ship was found.
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